Tensed Quotes & Sayings

There are various causes for the generation of force: a tensed spring, an air current, a falling mass of water, fire burning under a boiler, a metal that dissolves in an acid-one and the same effect can be produced by means of all these various causes. But in the animal body we recognise only one cause as the ultimate cause of all generation of force, and that is the reciprocal interaction exerted on one another by the constituents of the food and the oxygen of the air. The only known and ultimate cause of the vital activity in the animal as well as in the plant is a chemical process. — Justus Von Liebig

I tensed, waiting for the fury - both his and mine - but it was only quiet and calm in the darkness of his room. I could almost taste the sweetness of reunion in the air, a separate fragrance from the perfume of his breath; the emptiness when we were apart left its own bitter aftertaste, something I didn't consciously notice until it was removed.
There was no friction in the space between us. The stillness was peaceful - not like the calm before the tempest, but like a clear night untouched by even the dream of a storm. — Stephenie Meyer

Sam responded to my mental request, his leg tensing and relaxing, and then coming up against my sex, repeatedly, pounding, as I dropped onto him with furious desire. I pulled Sam to me, as I tensed every muscle in my body in one last spasm of agony, and found my glorious release. Then, I came a second time. I held Sam's head and kissed him, coming a third time as Sam slowed the motion of his leg, and I finally collapsed against him, breathing heavily, fully spent. — Simone Freier

We put these things through their paces." He tensed suddenly. "Have you been using these the whole time we've been apart?" I knew what he was asking. "Only when I was by myself." I'd kept the sheets faithful to Tristan. Bully for me. We were so freaking screwed up. So freaking screwed. — R.K. Lilley

Shut the door, he ordered. Safi did, but tensed her muscles. She might have danced and fought with this man, but that didn't mean she trusted him in a room alone. — Susan Dennard

When they kissed she immediately felt his tongue, tensed and strong, pushing past her teeth, like some bully shouldering his way into a room. Entering her. — Ian McEwan

Your muscles tensed up, your blood pressure rose, and your heart rate increased. Someone looking closely at your eyes while you tackled this problem would have seen your pupils dilate. — Daniel Kahneman

Charley! Maggie shrieked drunkenly and I watched as my name hit Jake's ears. I noted the way he tensed, my fingers trembling around my beer bottle.
His eyes shot up from his group and tore through the crowd across the room. His chest jerked as his gaze collided with mine and his arm fell away from the girl cuddled into him. His lips parted as shock slackened his handsome features and I watched him mouth my name.
Everyone disappeared around me as we locked eyes for the first time in years. The music dulled to a throb, the conversation to a muffled buzz, and all I could hear was my heartbeat. — Samantha Young

Everything you do, if not in a relaxed state will be done at a lesser level than you are proficient. Thus the tensed expert marksman will aim at a level less than his/her student. — Bruce Lee

Don't try dodgin' me again, Gwen," he warned, and I tensed at his tone. "Your friend's man is a cop or not, I'll come and get you. You almost got dead today. That's twice in a week. That shit's gonna stop and it isn't Tack who's gonna make it stop for you. Got me?" "I'll quit being a smartass if you quit being so bossy. — Kristen Ashley

I tensed up like someone had just given me a surprise rectal exam. — Kristin Walker

Hello, Anne's clitoris. It's me, Malcolm, your lord and master."
"Oh, god, no." I covered my face with my hands. "Please don't."
"Shh. This is a private conversation." He brushed hot, feverish kisses up and down the lips of my sex. My stomach tensed so hard it hurt. "Look at you all pretty, pink, and excited. Don't worry, I'll look after you. — Kylie Scott

Thank you."
"Whatever."
"V, seriously - "
"Make that fuck you." When there was no slappy comeback, he looked up.
Shit. Butch was standing right in front of him, the cop's hazel eyes dark with a knowledge V wished the guy didn't have.
V dropped his stare to his lighter. "Whatever, cop, they're just knives."
The black tip of the dagger slid under V's chin and angled his head up. As he was forced to meet Butch's stare, V's body tensed. Then trembled.
With the weapon linking them, Butch said, "They're beautiful. — J.R. Ward

Fireheart tensed, waiting for whatever had hunted down these apprentices to emerge from the trees and attack, but nothing stirred. Feeling as if his legs hardly belonged to him, he sprang down and stumbled across to Swiftpaw.
The apprentice lay on his side, his legs splayed out. His black-and-white fur was torn, and his body was covered with dreadful wounds, ripped by teeth far bigger than any cat's. His jaws still snarled and his eyes glared. He was dead, and Fireheart could see that he had died fighting. — Erin Hunter

Then the coxswain called out, 'Ready all!' Joe turned and faced the rear of the boat, slid his seat forward, sank the white blade of his oar into the oil-black water, tensed his muscles, and waited for the command that would propel him forward into the glimmering darkness. — Daniel James Brown

If I wanted to kill you..."She slowly lifted off him until she was completely free.Her entire body tensed,mourning the loss of him filling her,but..."I'd do this,"she murmured as she shimmied down his body,bringing her mouth over his hardness. — Katie Reus

And you love Sophie."
Gideon's mouth tensed.
"She's a mundane and a servant," said Gabriel. "I don't know what you expect to come of it, Gideon."
"Nothing," Gideon said roughly. "I expect nothing. But the fact that you believe I should shows that our family brought us up to believe that we should do right only if some reward was the result. — Cassandra Clare

Telling someone you'll accept them as long as they pretend to be someone they're not - that's not real acceptance. And saying you'll love someone as long as they lie about part of who they are - that's not real love, pup." Bayden tensed at the word love being uttered out loud for the first time. Axel smiled and pressed a kiss against Bayden's temple. "I won't be someone who does that. — Kim Dare

His jaw was tensed, but it was no longer the frightening expression he had in the cafeteria. He seemed sad. The deep, hopeless kind. — Jamie McGuire

One I did, Travis flipped off the lamp, and then pulled me against him without permission or apology. He tensed his arms and sighed, and I nestled my face into his neck. I shut my eyes tight, trying to savor the moment. I knew I would wish for that moment back every day of my life, so I lived it with everything I had. — Jamie McGuire

She settled into a crouch, wings pinned tightly to her back. "Come on then, angel boy." She kept her eyes on the muscles in his shoulders, saw the instant one tensed. A split second later, they were moving in a wicked, dangerous dance of steel and bodies. She'd never really had a chance to spar with Raphael like this, and damn if it wasn't the most fun she'd ever had. — Nalini Singh

When we need it most, it is nearly impossible to see ourselves with compassion from the slit of a narrowed mind all tensed for battle. — Mark Nepo

You want to know what Im going to do? Daemons entire body tensed under my hand. You know where your head and ass are? Well, they're about to become well acquainted with each other — Jennifer L. Armentrout

There were no colonies on Earth. It was all a scam the Martians were using to con the rest of the universe. There had been no first contact. Her knees quivered, and all her muscles tensed. She was first contact. — Patricia Eimer

Why was the meeting between the Americans and the Russians so tensed?
Because nobody knows what Vladimir Put In Barbara's Bush!
From 'Walk On By II — Stephan Attia

We can take it slow," he said. "You can learn to be with me. Find out what I'm all about. You never know, you might like what you find."
"Don't hold your breath," she said.
He stepped toward her casually, amusement flickering around his lips. She tensed, her eyes checking for a way to run.
"Or ... " His hand lashed out, grabbed her, and whipped her into his arms, where he held her tight. "We can take it fast and rough. — Annette Curtis Klause

Stop putting yourself in danger. Stop trying to handle everything yourself instead of trusting me to help you." His gaze wandered, too, lingering on her mouth, her hair, even her breasts, leaving tingling sensations everywhere it touched. Shadows moved along his jaw as muscles tensed. "Stop making me crazy, Janet. — Starr Ambrose

His body tensed as his gut was struck with a frozen bullet of shock. He couldn't breathe. — Sidney Knight

I have a notion that, at big fires, a moment of extreme suspense can sometimes occur, when the jets of water slacken off, the firemen no longer climb, no one moves a muscle. Without a sound, a high black wall of masonry cants over up above, the fire blazing behind it, and, without a sound, leans, about to topple. Everyone stands waiting, shoulders tensed, faces drawn in around their eyes, for the terrible crash. That is how the silence is here. — Rainer Maria Rilke

The trembling started in my cleats and worked its way through my aching ankle, my tensed calf and thigh muscles, my pounding chest until it finally shook loose the fear that had slowly eaten away the resolve I'd found at Spirit Lake Bible camp.
What would I do if anyone at school found out the truth about me? — Juliann Rich

The Panther
His gaze is from the passing of bars
so exhausted, that it doesn't hold a thing anymore.
For him, it's as if there were thousands of bars
and behind the thousands of bars no world.
The sure stride of lithe, powerful steps,
that around the smallest of circles turns,
is like a dance of pure energy about a center,
in which a great will stands numbed.
Only occasionally, without a sound, do the covers
of the eyes slide open - . An image rushes in,
goes through the tensed silence of the frame
only to vanish, forever, in the heart. — Rainer Maria Rilke

These moments of nocturnal prowling leave an indelible impression. Eyes and ears are tensed to the maximum, the rustling approach of strange feet in the tall grass in an unutterably menacing thing. Your breath comes in shallow bursts; you have to force yourself to stifle any panting or wheezing. There is a little mechanical click as the safety-catch of your pistol is taken off; the sound cuts straight through your nerves. Your teeth are grinding on the fuse-pin of the hand-grenade. The encounter will be short and murderous. You tremble with two contradictory impulses: the heightened awareness of the huntsmen, and the terror of the quarry. You are a world to yourself, saturated with the appalling aura of the savage landscape.
p. 71 — Ernst Junger

Dan reached out, his hand rested on the other's abs, under the blankets. Felt heat creep from the skin, feeding it back again. "How long did they have you? You look like a fair few beatings at least."
Vadim looked down at his body, tensed the muscle to keep that weight there, nice and snug. "Two days. Like weekend with in-laws, eh?" Tried a smile. "Bad food, and they hate you."
Nodding, Dan's eyes narrowed, could just about imagine what it had been like. "I don't take kindly to those who try to take away from me what is mine. — Marquesate

Aaron's body tensed, his heart raced and he could taste fear on his tongue. Steeling himself the best he could, he forced out the words, "So what are you going to do?"

Kyran pulled in a breath, his head lowered. After a moment's contemplation, he looked up at Aaron.

"What I have to," he replied. His eyes were a poison green as he stared at him. "I have to kill you. — S.F. Mazhar

The room was full of people. "Ninety-eight days," said the queen, folding her hands in her lap. "You said it would take six months." Eugenides picked at a nub in the coverlet. "I like to give myself a margin. When I can." "I didn't believe you," the queen admitted with a delicate smile. "Now you know better." The king smiled back. They might as well have been alone. The queen turned her head to listen. There was shouting in the guardroom. Costis tensed. His hand went to his belt, looking for his sword. "That will be Dite," said the king. "He must have been in the outer rooms. I may as well see him." The queen rose and stepped behind the embroidered screen in front of the fireplace. Her attendants withdrew. The king's attendants remained, digesting the fact that their helpless, inept king had promised his wife to destroy the house of Erondites in six months and had done it in ninety-eight days. — Megan Whalen Turner

WEST SALEM ~ October 2011
A sudden vision, fraught with malevolence and darkness, obscured her sight. The face of a menacing figure turned from the shadows of his grisly handiwork and stared at Sorcha.
Her muscles tensed. By the Goddess, could he see her?
Please! No!
She wanted to scream, to run, but the vision ensnared her into the horrific moment like a fly in a spider's web. — Cherie De Sues

I tensed for the spring, my eyes squinting as I cringed away, and the sound of Edward's furious roar echoed distantly in the back of my head. His name burst through all the walls I'd built to contain it. Edward, Edward, Edward.
I was going to die. It shouldn't matter if I thought of him now. Edward, I love you. — Stephenie Meyer

You'll be fine. Just hang on to me. I won't make you let go all night if you don't want to."
She took me up on my offer. Slowly, she slipped her arm around my waist and then clung to me like she was super glued there. I tensed beneath her touch and had to fight back shivers.
"Feel free to hang on to other parts of me too." My voice came out thick because it had been stuck in my throat. "My butt's feeling pretty left out, and I don't spend so much time working out my abs and chest just to never get felt up. — Kelly Oram

She's saying Santa Claus doesn't come to our house."
Celia tensed a bit, realizing he had been listening. "He can."
"No, he can't."
"We have a chimney."
"If something comes down my chimney, I'm shooting it ... especially a fat man wearing a suit. — J.M. Darhower

Miles gathered his reins, tensed one calf, and shifted his weight slightly, and Fat Ninny responded with a neat half turn and two precise back steps. The thick-set roan gelding could not have been mistaken by the most ignorant urbanite for a fiery steed, but Miles adored him, for his dark and liquid eye, his wide velvet nose, his phlegmatic disposition equally unappalled by rushing streams or screaming aircars, but most of all for his exquisite dressage-trained responsiveness. Brains before beauty. Just being around him made Miles calmer; the beast was an emotional blotter, like a purring cat. Miles patted Fat Ninny on the neck. "If anybody asks," he murmured, "I'll tell them your name is Chieftain." Fat Ninny waggled one fuzzy ear, heaving a whooshing, barrel-chested sigh. Grandfather — Lois McMaster Bujold

Sasha looked at the windowpane, rinsed continually with rain, smearing lights in the falling dark. She lay with her body tensed, claiming the couch, her spot in this room, her view of the window and the walls, the faint hum that was always there when she listened, and these minutes of Coz's time: another, then another, then one more. — Jennifer Egan

Of course I tensed up when he touched me. To be with him was to hurt him-inevitably. And that's what I'd felt as he reached for me: I'd felt as though I were committing an act of violence against him, because I was. — John Green

Cinder tensed briefly, before melting into the kiss. The rush was the same every time, coupled with surprise and a wave of giddiness. It was their seventeenth kiss (her brain interface was keeping a tally, somewhat against her will), and she wondered if she would ever get used to this feeling. Being desired, when she'd spent her life believing no one would ever see her as anything but a bizarre science experiment. Especially not a boy. Especially not Kai, who was smart and honorable and kind, and could have had any girl he wanted. Any girl. She sighed against him, leaning into the embrace. — Marissa Meyer

I love Sara, but something was taken from me at the church, something that she can't relate to. Every time I walk outside I think maybe someone is going to grab me. I take a sip of a glass of water I got out of my own tap and swish it around in my mouth first, like maybe it's a threat. And I'm starting to understand why Alex walks around on the balls of her feet, why her back muscles are always tensed, like a cat ready to spring.
She knows. She gets it. So that's why I'm going to tell Sara that I'm okay and leave it at that. — Mindy McGinnis

I watched Dastien take the first couple of steps. His lithe movements mesmerized me. His muscles tensed and released under his tight grey T-shirt, and his jeans made his butt look so cute. I tilted my head as I stared. He chose that moment to look back at me. "You coming?" A grin spread across his face. "What are you looking at?" "Just enjoying the view." No — Aileen Erin

Crass," Dr Robert agreed, "but crass precisely because you're such inadequate materialists. Abstract materialism - that's what you profess. Whereas we make a point of being materialists concretely - materialistic on the wordless levels of seeing and touching and smelling, of tensed muscles and dirty hands. Abstract materialism is as bad as abstract idealism, it makes immediate spiritual experience almost impossible. — Aldous Huxley

Remind me how to play? Or actually, tell me how to play. I don't think I ever have before." His mouth tensed, briefly, and Lily added another item to her increasing store of knowledge of how sad the duke's childhood had been.

All three of them had been orphaned in their own ways, hadn't they? No wonder they got along so well. It felt . . . it almost felt as though they were a family. — Megan Frampton

There's this perception that if you worry a lot and if you look really busy and stressed out then you'll be more successful. You talk about how little sleep you get and how tensed you are and how you're not getting the appreciation you deserve. — Nancy Meyers

Some of the males rose from the table then, making noise about a rugby rematch. MacRieve tensed, but didn't join them.
When a couple of the men said things in Gaelic, their tones taunting, she asked, "Are they trash-talking you?"
"Oh, aye. According to them, I'm the veriest pussy. Already mate-whipped. — Kresley Cole

Cameron tensed. "I suppose there's getting-hurt danger, and then there's the end-up-dead kind of danger," he said shakily.
Julian was silent, his head still lowered as if he was afraid to look up.
Cameron drew his hand back, watching it tremble. "Is this ... this fear, is it what you deal with every day?" It hurt. It scared him to think that Julian might live in fear day in and day out.
"Every day but Friday," Julian answered without pause. — Abigail Roux

You know what else I find really interesting?"
"What?"
His head lowered until I fellt his nose brush mine, and I tensed. "It's interesting how much I like waking up with my hand on your arse and my leg between yours."
"You were awake!"
He grinned. "Maybe. — J. Lynn

Her three children, she saw, had been staring at the horizon with the alert, tensed stillness of explorers at the ocean's edge, poised to begin their journeys. And Delia, shading her eyes in the distance, had been trying to understand why they were leaving.
Where they were going without her.
How to say goodbye. — Anne Tyler

Wyatt Christiansen is the client."
Iris tensed at his words. Hearing Wyatt's name from her boss completely threw her off balance. If Wyatt wanted to hire Red Stone that meant he needed extra security. She hated the thought of him in danger.
Without giving her a chance to respond, Harrison barreled on. "I don't like the idea of you guarding him, especially since I found out you two are fucking married. It goes against protocol, but...my father owes him a favor and he's apparently collecting. — Katie Reus

Oh my God, Abby," he breathed. He rocked into me again, another hum emanating from his throat. "Holy shit, you feel amazing."
"Is it different?"
He looked into my eyes. "It's different with you, anyway, but," he took in a deep breath and tensed again, closing his eyes for a moment, "I'm never going to be the same after this. — Jamie McGuire

I fucked up and hurt you. It won't happen again." His fingers tensed around my head and his deep voice dropped low. "I promise you, Kitten, it won't happen again. — Kristen Ashley

See something you like?"

Miller tensed, going tight as a guitar string. "No, but God...Have you ever seen a dick that big before?"

Garrett couldn't resist teasing Miller a little. "Every morning when I take a piss."

"You wish." Miller tore his gaze away from the room's occupants and turned to stare at Garrett. "I remember your dick just fine, and it didn't look anything like that."

"Ah. Now you've gone and hurt my dick's feelings. Maybe you should kiss and make up. — Amanda Young

I tried to call your cell phone when we got in to see if you made it."
Ash immediately tensed as he put his comic down and pulled out another issue. "I turned it off on the day I got here."
"Really?" Dante asked, stunned by Ash's confession. It wasn't like him to be out of touch with his Dark-Hunter charges. "What if one of the Dark-Hunters needed you?"
Ash shrugged. "If they can't survive alone for four days once a year, they deserve to die. — Sherrilyn Kenyon

Have you ever been in a situation where you had to choose between your loved ones, knowing that whatever you decided, you would have to lie to one of them?'
'Yes. More than once.' Elijah's words sounded far too cold in the sudden silence. His finely chiselled face tensed up and his eyes grew cold. 'And before you ask, I chose you every time. — A.O. Esther

Or she would look at him with a sullen expression, once again he would see before him a face worthy of figuring in Botticelli's Life of Moses, he would place her in it, he would give her neck the necessary inclination; and when he had well and truly painted her in distemper, in the fifteenth century, on the wall of the Sistine Chapel, the idea that she had nevertheless remained here, by the piano, in the present moment, ready to be kissed and possessed, the idea of her materiality and her life would intoxicate him with such force that, his eyes distracted, his jaw tensed as though to devour her, he would swoop down upon that Botticelli virgin and begin pinching her cheeks. — Marcel Proust

I meant what I said before. You need to walk away, Pidge. God knows I can't walk away from you."
I touched his arm. "You don't want me to leave."
Travis' jaws tensed again, and then he took me under his arm. He paused for a moment, and then kissed my forehead, pressing his cheek against my temple. "It doesn't matter how hard I try. You're going to hate me when it's all said and done."
I wrapped my arms around him. "We have to be friends. I won't take no for an answer," I quoted. — Jamie McGuire

Ambassador Winters, allow me to introduce my aunt Abby and her ... boyfriend.' Townsed tensed. Abby glared. And Rebecca Baxter looked like she was going to choke on her chewing gum. — Ally Carter

When the fisherman bait the hooks, through them into the sea and sits looking at horizon, do not think he is doing nothing. He and all his senses are fully tensed. His eyes monitors the line, his ears picks the slightest sound of the rod, his heart beats in harmony with the waves and his mind plans further than you think — Sameh Elsayed

You continue to stare at me for a few seconds, assessing my face, before
you lean even closer to me. Your lips graze against mine briefly ... Just
enough to reassure that you're not truly upset with me, but are nonetheless
quite prepared to have some fun at my expense, and punish me for my poor
communication skills. Then you take a step back, leaving me flat against
the wall, tensed and expectant. — Felicity Brandon

When Liam stepped forward again, Derek's arm shot around me , a growl vibrating up from his stomach.
Liam put his hand out toward me. When Derek tensed he pilled back, then did it again, testing his reaction, laughing when he got one, untill even Ramone started to laugh.
"Check this out," Liam said. "I think the pup's got himself a mate. Isn't that the cutest thing? — Kelley Armstrong

Curtis peeked over to the side. God had his arm over Day's shoulder holding him close to him, both their heads lowered with their eyes closed. He could just see God's thumb lightly moving back and forth on Day's shoulder. They were such an awesome couple, two more of the greatest men he'd ever - . Curtis' thoughts skidded to a halt in his mind. His eyes widened and his body tensed in response to the sight. Both his dads must've felt it, because each one kept their eyes closed but moved in closer to him. Oh — A.E. Via

A man barreled around a corner, heading straight for the princess. Winter tensed half a second before he reached her. Grabbing Winter's elbow, he yanked back the red hood. Scarlet gasped. Her knees weakened. The man stared at Winter with a mixture of confusion and disappointment and maybe even anger, all locked up in eyes so vividly green Scarlet could see them glowing from here. She — Marissa Meyer

He was an artist, and she, an anarchist, the destroyer of his beautiful creations. His body tensed, pushing hot adrenaline through his body with irascible rage. His anger gave way to lamentation as his heart wailed for his lost inventions. His mind saw each one desperately screaming for help, their outcries echoing between the orange flames and ashy ruins of their compatriots. — Emmie White

He lay tensed beneath the worn blanket and tried, as always, to shut out the noise of the rumbling carts that, empty now, having deposited their loads at the warehouses south of the Aventine hill, were moving up to the Aemilius bridge. — Wallace Breem

Dex," I whispered.
"Mmmm?" he grunted.
"I hope you never stop feeling alive."
I could have sworn his heart skipped a few beats. He tensed. Then relaxed.
"As long as you're around," he said softly, "I'll be alive. — Karina Halle

I was dreaming about this - except it feels even better than I thought it would. Fucking fantastic. Clean sheets. You"

Warrick moved across and kissed him gently, exactly as he'd imagined. Soft cotton and warm skin against him, soothing and luxurious. Hand on his back, touching carefully. He had a moment of fear that this was the dream, that soon he would wake up in the cell. Then a noise distracted him: distant firing in the city. He tensed, and Warrick's hand stroked a circle over his shoulder-blade. More firing, but it was nothing to do with him. Nothing to worry about, even if he could manage it. Safe, here.

He recaptured the tail end of a thought, before it disappeared into sleep. "Just you. 'S enough."

If Warrick said anything in reply, Toreth didn't hear it. — Manna Francis

His arm slid around my shoulders and drew me to him. It was odd, sitting there under the veil of darkness, watching the neighborhood settle down. Lamps burned in windows. TVs flickered. A few houses down, the rhythmic thud of a basketball on concrete and muffled laughter alerted us to the only other people outside on this glorious fall night.

"This is a perfect date," I said.

He tensed. "You'd call it a date?"

"Sure. You wouldn't?"

He looked down at me, his eyes glittering in the faint light. "I thought American girls liked more formality in a date."

"More money is what you mean." I smiled. "It's a date. Don't argue with me."

"I never do. — Elizabeth Langston

Do you know why I adore roses?" Shahrzad untied the knot of his tikka sash with deliberate slowness. "I've always loved them for their beauty and their scent, but--"
"It's because of their thorns." His muscles tensed at her touch. "Because there's more to them than first meets the eye. — Renee Ahdieh

Uncle Mort glanced at Pandora, then back at the Juniors. "Okay, kids. Brace yourselves. And try not to yell too much."
Elysia's hand tensed on Lex's arm. "I hate it when he says that," she whispered.
Uncle Mort gave them a sympathetic smile. "Remember that old chestnut about the wickedest Grim of all time?"
He pounded on the roof. Grotton's head popped down through the ceiling, a snaky grin stretching from ear to ear.
The screams were so loud, Dora nearly drove into a tree — Gina Damico

Go ahead and try. I'll attempt to loosen up.
Her muscles tightened when I took her hand in mine.
"Do you know any self-hypnosis?"
"I guess I'm tensing too much." She took several deep calming breaths then tensed her muscles and relaxed them, repeating the steps several times. The pulse in her wrist slowed to normal.
I nodded, grateful that Marissa was such a treasure despite my initial concern she might be more like the teen witch that had turned me into a frog. — Terry Spear

So," Frosty said as we stood. "I have to ask a personal question, because our next move hinges on your answer."
I tensed, unsure about what he could possibly want to know. "Ask."
"How do you feel about stealing cars? — Gena Showalter

Pretty is different,' he murmured. 'Pretty has no scars. You are ... ' jaw muscles tensed again. 'Like the morning sky in Afghanistan. Not 'pretty'. Word's 'breathtaking'. — Aleksandr Voinov

She felt the snake between her breasts, felt him there, and loved him there, coiled, the deep tumescent S held rigid, ready to strike. She loved the way the snake looked sewn onto her V-neck letter sweater, his hard diamondback pattern shining in the sun. It was unseasonably hot, almost sixty degrees, for early November in Mystic, Georgia, and she could smell the light musk of her own sweat. She liked the sweat, liked the way it felt, slick as oil, in all the joints of her body, her bones, in the firm sliding muscles, tensed and locked now, ready to spring
to strike
when the band behind her fired up the school song: "Fight On Deadly Rattlers of Old Mystic High."
Harry Crews- A Feast of Snakes — Harry Crews

Jean-Yves looked up at his mother's face, her greying chignon, her harsh features: it was difficult to feel a rush of tenderness, of affection for this woman; as far back as he could remember, she had never really been one for hugs; it was equally difficult to imagine her in the role of a sensual lover, a slut. He suddenly realised that his father must have been bored shitless his whole life. He felt terribly shocked by this, his hands tensed on the edge of the table: this time it was irreparable, it was definitive. In despair, he tried to recall a moment when he had seen his father beaming, happy, genuinely glad to be alive. — Michel Houellebecq

There's no point running anyway. In t-minus ten minutes, you will have no where to run to."

Quinn tensed at the triumphant look in his eyes. ". . .what have you done?"

"I have entered launch codes in the computer. In exactly ten minutes, Alpha Star 9 will be a black stain in the middle of Utah."

Quinn's lips part in shock.

"Yes," said. Dr. Zorgone in amusement. "Dramatic gasp! — Ash Gray

Oliver couldn't walk away. Not when the wallflower needed rescuing. His goddamn Achilles heel, no matter how disastrous the outcome tended to be. He just wished his heroics would work out for once.
He kept his eyes trained on the pretty black-haired American, every muscle tensed for action. An eternity ticked by. No one approached her. She had no one to dance with, to talk to. She looked... lost. Hauntingly lonely. Frightened and defiant all at the same time.
'Twould be better for them both if he turned around right now. Never met her eye. Never exchanged a single word. Left her to her fate and him to his.
It was already too late. — Erica Ridley

Sorry for leaving without saying hi. But something came up as soon as I got there."

Now that wasn't going to do, so I pressed on. "Did you think I'd be there?"

He didn't come fast with a response. Instead, his absorbed smile pried my soul, my insides felt tensed, like a queen tiptoeing around the edge of a chessboard, wholly vulnerable in a game she knew nothing about. — C.C. Wyatt

Regarding Her Majesty, Queen Levana, has she or any of the Lunar court commented on the escape of the convict?"
Kai's jaw tensed. "Oh, she's had a thing or two to say about it. — Marissa Meyer

Sometimes I have to remind myself to breathe. You would think it would be an innate human instinct but no, i inhale and forget to exhale and so I find my body rigid, all tensed up, heart pounding , chest tight with an anxious head wondering what's wrong. — Cecelia Ahern

Do you try to pick up all the mortal girls you almost kill?"
"Just the ones who don't scream and run," he said. And then he startled me further by touching my face, just under one eye. I tensed just a little, as I always did when someone noticed my eyes. Bracing myself for the if only.
But there was no revulsion in his gaze and nothing but fascination in his touch. "And the ones with pretty eyes," he added. — N.K. Jemisin

Did you ever think she was your mate?" Lucas asked unable to help himself.
Clyde tensed, seemingly caught off-guard by the question. "I knew she wasn't mine," he said then exhaled. "Angels don't mate, remember?"
"Then why did you make it so hard for her?"
"For her or for you?"
"For her. I couldn't care less how hard you made it for me."
"Because I love her," Clyde responded simply. Lucas' jaw clenched then he exhaled, acknowledging that hearing another man admit he loved Jenna would never get easier.
"Not the way you do, but I love her. I wanted what was best for her. I thought you weren't it," Clyde added then turned to walk away. He paused and spun back around. "One more thing. If you ever hurt her, I'll kill you."
Lucas let the fire in his heart fill his eyes. He would never hurt Jenna; they both knew it. "I know. That's one of the reasons I haven't killed you myself. — J.L. Sheppard

Don't. If either one of us says another word, there's a pretty damn good chance we'd end up on your bed. Fuck it, probably the floor. Without clothes." His jaw tensed. "So, I'm going to leave. — Angela McPherson

He shot forward, clasping my cheeks. "Say it again."
"Say what?" I replied, gripping his wrists. "I said a lot of things. Help me out here."
"Say that I'm not just the Apollyon," he whispered, his voice harsh.
Tears built in my throat. "You're not just the Apollyon, Seth."
His eyes drifted shut, his face tensed as his fingers splayed across my cheeks. "I don't even know who I am anymore. Or what I ever was."
Oh goodness, that ripped right through my chest. "You're just ... you're just Seth."
A tremor moved through his arms. "And you ... you're just my salvation. — Jennifer L. Armentrout

There was a rustling sound and two thumps that sounded suspiciously like shoes hitting the floor. Then David wriggled under the sheet to cuddle up to me. I tensed. David plastering his body all over mine wasn't new - the guy was like a heat-seeking missile and seemed to constantly crave physical contact - but I was normally fully clothed for our impromptu cuddle sessions. Now, I had on nothing more than a pair of briefs. Not that he cared. He rubbed his face against my shoulder like a cat. — Santino Hassell

Horatia put a gloved hand on his arm. He didn't even seem to notice. "Charles, are you unwell?"
He tensed. "No, I'm well enough. There's much to give me worry these days. Don't fret on my behalf."
She stared at him for a long moment, wondering if she ought to inquire further as to the nature of his distress. Charles was always close-lipped when it came to such things. Her brother always claimed Charles couldn't keep a secret, but Horatia knew better. When it came to matters of the heart, the Earl of Lonsdale could remain silent forever. She turned her attention to the streets again.

-Horatia & Charles. His Wicked Seduction — Lauren Smith

I'm going to hurt you, sweetheart, because there's no other way. If I could take the pain for you, I would."
She did not turn her face away from him or try to twist free of his imprisoning grasp, and what she said made Ian's throat ache with emotion. "Do you know," she whispered with a teary smile, "how long I've waited to hear you call me 'sweetheart' again?"
"How long?" he asked hoarsely.
Putting her arms around his shoulders, Elizabeth braced herself for whatever pain was coming, knowing as he tensed that it was going to happen, talking as if she could calm herself. "Two years. I've waited and w- — Judith McNaught

Initially, suspended headfirst, thousands of feet above the ground, restrained from falling only by a seat belt, I was paralyzed by terror. My hands and arms reflexively braced against the sides of the cockpit, as if holding on would hold me in. Every muscle in my body was tensed, vibrating, and there was a rushing feeling, almost like a noise, going up and down the back of my skull. Yet I didn't fall out of the plane. The seat belt attached in five places and kept me pinioned, rock-solid, in my seat. My eyes told me that nothing was keeping me from plummeting to my death, but with experience, I started to be able to override that sensation with reason: I was actually just fine, I wasn't going to fall out of the plane. Eventually the fear that I might faded. — Chris Hadfield

Well, well. If it isn't the princess."
My body tensed and I frowned when I saw him approaching. Narrowing my eyes, I plastered on a fake smile. "I almost didn't recognize you without a tramp attached to you."
Drew and the other guy snickered.
Leaning into my ear he harshly whispered, "Would you like to change that? I'm not up to my limit tonight yet."
Gah, why did he have to be so hot? My body was practically humming with how close he was. I leaned away and replied with the most innocent expression on my face, "Oh I'm sorry, but I don't have any STDs, I'm not your type. — Molly McAdams

(Honor)"You had told me that if you didn't return within a few minutes of ten o'clock, I was to drive away and get as far from Tambour as possible. So, for all you knew, that's what I had done. After nearly dying in that explosion, with a burn on your shoulder, and your hair singed, you could have run in any given direction in order to get away, but you didn't. When you found me on the railroad tracks, you were racing back to the garage. To me."
He didn't say anything, but his jaw tensed.
She smiled and moved closer to him, aligning her body along his. "You don't have to give me flowers, Coburn. You don't even have to hold me." She laid her head on his chest just below his chin. Her hand curved around his neck. "Let me hold you. — Sandra Brown

Aiden smirked. "Wonder what this one is called?"
The hellhound's ears twitched as the massive body lowered preparing for attack. I slid my hand to the middle of the blade, feeling my heart pound and the adrenaline kick my system into overdrive. In the pit of my stomach, the cord started to unravel.
I swallowed. "Let's call this one ... Toto."
Three mouths opened in a growl that sent a cold chill down my spine, and a wave of hot, fetid breath smacked into us. Bile burned the back of my throat.
"I guess it doesn't like the name," I said, moving slowly to the right.
Aiden's powerful body tensed. "Here, Toto ... " One head snapped in his direction. "That's a good Toto."
I slipped around the ancient cross, creeping up on the hellhound from the right. The middle and left head focused on me, snapping and growlying.
Aiden clucked his tongue. "Come on, Toto, I'm pretty tasty. — Jennifer L. Armentrout

I don't want to talk." Dan's neck muscles tensed resisting Vadim's hand.
He didn't know the words and he didn't want to search for them. "I just want to feel." But no, that wasn't it. "I want to feel human. — Aleksandr Voinov

The saucy Miss Tottenham slipped the strawberry into her delectable mouth, all the while looking at Cyrus. His thigh muscles tensed inside the velvet prison of his breeches. Hot pleasure shot through his body at the sight of the red berry slipping through her lips. Adding to his misery, a spurt of juice from the tender morsel painted her bottom lip red. He nearly groaned.
Tradition named the apple as the fruit of man's downfall, but tonight he'd argue mightily for the dangers of a ripe strawberry on a certain woman's lips. — Gina Conkle

We spend our lives, all of us, waiting for the great day, the great battle, or the deed of power. But that external consummation is not given to many: nor is it necessary. So long as our being is tensed, directed with passion, towards that which is the spirit of all things, then that spirit will emerge from our own hidden, nameless effort. — Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

Bright young men of disheveled appearance, often with
sunken glowing eyes, can be seen sitting at computer consoles,
their arms tensed and waiting to fire their fingers, already poised
to strike, at the buttons and keys on which their attention seems
to be riveted as a gambler's on the rolling dice. When not so
transfixed, they often sit at tables strewn with computer printouts
over which they pore like possessed students of a cabbalistic
text. They work until they nearly drop, twenty, thirty hours
at a time. Their food, if they arrange it, is brought to them:
coffee, Cokes, sandwiches. If possible, they sleep on cots near
the printouts. Their rumpled clothes, their unwashed and
unshaven faces, and their uncombed hair all testify that they are
oblivious to their bodies and to the world in which they move.
These are computer bums, compulsive programmers ... — Joseph Weizenbaum

There are things I need to say first. Things you need to hear before we go any further."
She tensed. "Oh, God, are you married?"
He chuckled. "No, nothing like that."
"Good," she replied, letting out a relieved breath.
"I want you to know you've made this very difficult for me. I had a speech prepared. Then I see you like this." His finger continued to trail down her stomach, tracing the rim of her panties. "And I can't even remember my damn name. — Stacey O'Neale

And all of a sudden, she knew. He was going to kiss her. And she wanted him to. More than she could have imagined. Her breath caught as his gaze moved from her eyes to her lips and her whole body tensed as she watched him move closer. His lips were so close to her own that she could feel the light touch of his breath on her skin. Her eyes fluttered closed and she waited on tenterhooks ... all her senses screaming. He's going to kiss you! Only, he didn't. — Sarah MacLean